Archipelago
by Gaara's Plaything
Summary: The Malfoy family never emigrated to Britain, instead choosing to remain in France. How would this change things? And when Draco goes to Hogwarts, how will he interract with those who were otherwise destined to be his enemies? OOC and eventual Dramione. On hold.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! I wrote this, and the next two chapters, in less than half a day! I'll post the next two when I feel like it. I should warn you, though, that Draco is quite OOC in this, mostly because I had him growing up in France, with his family being different, though still the same as well. Also, this is eventual Dramione. There's going to be a lot of reference to dialogue from the books, though sometimes they're altered to the situation, like when Harry first meets Draco. Just like Draco himself, things are different, but also the same.**

**In any case, I don't own Harry Potter, but I hope you enjoy this anyway…**

_**Archipelago**_

**Chapter One**

Dieudonné Mal-Fae was Lucius Malfoy's great-great grandfather, the original builder of the current Malfoy Manor in France. Dieudonné felt that the Mal-Fae name needed to be 'modernised' and thus changed it to Malfoy. He filled out the necessary Ministry paperwork, appropriately altered the wills to display Malfoy instead, and set the statutes for the family in place. His son Marrok was therefore the first to inherit under the new name, and the change went without a hitch.

Dieudonné's wife was Orabelle Sigur, whose grandmother had been a veela. The two of them had three children, Marrok and then two daughters, who went on to marry influential purebloods in other countries. Marrok married a young woman named Berthe, the daughter of a well to do pureblood in Marseille. They had two sons, the youngest, Absolon, married an Italian muggleborn witch, which was fine with his family, and the eldest, Hyperion, married a British witch, Elisabeth Greengrass. They had five daughters, and then a son they named Abraxas.

Abraxas Malfoy was the first Malfoy in a certain number of generations to marry a pure veela, a beautiful young sprite named Amélie who claimed him as her mate. Abraxas and Amélie had five children, two sons and three daughters as follows; Lucius, Chloé, Ines, Gertrude and Zarek. Lucius was the first born son, and therefore the heir; he would inherit the bulk of the Malfoy fortune one day, where Zarek would inherit smaller tithes.

Malfoy Manor was located in the region of Rhône-Alpes, halfway between Mount Mézenc and the muggle town of Privas. It sat sprawled out on two levels, with elaborate gardens and a large swimming pool that blended in with the décor of the gardens. Stables were kept on the property and children born into the family were taught to ride at an early age. Paid wizard servants were used to manage the horses, as house elves were terrified of the great animals, but only for that.

The Malfoy wealth also included several other properties; a luxurious flat in Paris, another in a residential alley off Diagon Alley in London, an apartment in New York City in America, a chalet outside Rennes in the west of France, a manor in the Wiltshire countryside in England and a villa on the west coast of Italy, near Paola. And there were also the wineries and vineyards that they owned, with the wine exported to European countries such as Greece, Poland and Italy.

When Lucius Dieudonné Malfoy was twenty one, he met the love of his life. He was accompanying his father on a business trip to England as a part of his learning the ropes of the main family business, and one of Abraxas's meetings was with Cygnus Black, a member of a prominent pureblood family. The meeting was in their family home, and that was where Lucius laid eyes on the youngest of three sisters, Narcissa Black.

OoOoO

"This is quite a deal you are proposing," Cygnus Black said to Abraxas Malfoy. "It will make a serious amount of gold for both out families."

"Is that not the point?" Abraxas asked. "My father had once considered the trade of our wine to Britain, but he never actually got around to making any contacts. I, on the other hand, wish to make our label as well known as possible."

"Well, this deal will certainly do that," Cygnus agreed. "I shall have the family lawyer draw up the necessary papers, then we shall confer over the details ourselves."

The two men shook hands, then Abraxas turned to look for his son. "Lucius?" he called, and found him staring out the window at two girls in the gardens.

Cygnus came over to see what they were looking at, and he smiled. "My daughters, Narcissa and Bellatrix," he said. "I had such high hopes for my eldest, but she turned into a blood traitor and married a mudblood. But I have already promised Bellatrix to Rodolphus Lestrange, it will be a good match for my family."

"Which one is Bellatrix?" Lucius asked, his voice strained a little, making Abraxas realise that one of the girls was probably Lucius's mate.

"The one with dark hair," Cygnus said, and Abraxas noted that his son looked relieved.

"So the other is Narcissa?" Abraxas asked. "Is she promised to anyone yet?"

The two men exchanged looks and Abraxas saw a gleam in Cygnus's eye, and he knew that the other wizard knew what was happening. "Narcissa _was_ promised to someone," he said, "but his parents reneged on the deal, and he's married to someone else. So she's free."

Abraxas saw that his son was delighted at the news, though he hid it well. "Shall we discuss another deal then?" Cygnus asked shrewdly. "One of a more personal nature perhaps?"

Damn, that man was crafty.

OoOoO

On the twelfth of August, 1976, Lucius Dieudonné Malfoy married his mate Narcissa Zaniah Black on the grounds of Malfoy Manor, after a long and heated argument between both of their mothers over the venue. Their honeymoon was spent at the Italian villa, and they hardly ever emerged from their bedroom. Lucius had confided in Narcissa early on that he was half veela, and that she was his mate, and she'd accepted him wholeheartedly.

When he learned of Narcissa's longing to see her eldest sister, Andromeda, Lucius took it upon himself to arrange for them to meet. Their reunion was tearful, and Narcissa cooed over Andromeda's three and a half year old daughter, Nymphadora. Both women agreed to keep their reunion secret, as Andromeda didn't want Narcissa to suffer repercussions from their family.

On the fifth of June, 1980, Lucius and Narcissa welcomed their son, Draco Abraxas Malfoy, into the world. Lucius was incredibly proud of his wife, and his father Abraxas was honoured that they chose his name to be a part of their child's. Narcissa's parents and her sister Bellatrix came to visit, bestowing their own blessing on the boy. And when they were gone, Andromeda, Ted and Nymphadora, who'd decided that she absolutely _hated_ her name by now, came to visit.

When Draco was a year and almost five months old, the Dark wizard Voldemort, who'd been terrorising Britain for some time, was defeated by a small boy, only a little younger than Draco. Soon after, Narcissa's sister Bellatrix was arrested alongside several others for torturing a couple of aurors, and they were given a life sentence. Narcissa cried long and hard that night, mourning the sister she'd grown up with. Not long after, Lucius's father died from a virulent strain of Dragon Pox, and he officially became Lord Malfoy.

On the seventeenth of January 1983, Lucius and Narcissa had another child, a daughter they named Asterope Juliette Malfoy. Draco was two years and seven months at that point, and when his sister came home, he was a right little terror, chucking tantrums when he didn't get all his parent's attention. That all changed, though, when Asterope's first word was 'Daro', an attempt at 'Draco'. Draco then made it his responsibility to care for and protect his little sister, much to his parent's amusement.

Both of their children grew up speaking English and French, and Draco was also taught Italian, as when he was older, he would need to speak it for several of the Malfoy family's business contacts. Lucius and Narcissa discussed where they would send their children to learn magic when they turned eleven, and they decided on Hogwarts for Draco and Beauxbatons for Asterope, Aster as she was called affectionately. Shortly before September first, 1991, they took Draco and Asterope to Diagon Alley to shop for his school things…

OoOoO

Draco was wide eyed at the sight of Diagon Alley. He kept a firm grip on Aster's hand, who was holding onto their mother's with her other hand. His mother was keeping up a running commentary on the shops they passed.

"Oh, and there's Ollivander's," she said. "You'll get your wand there, Draco."

Draco looked over to a shop that was narrow and shabby, with peeling gold letters that read _Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 __BC__._ Their fist stop, though, was a large white building at the end of the Alley, Gringotts. The Malfoy and Black families had immeasurable amounts of gold here, as well as in France and Italy. When they stepped into the building, Draco saw goblins all over the place. He knew they ran Gringotts and he wasn't afraid of them, but he held Aster's hand tighter, just in case she was.

"We'll split up here," his father said. "Cissy, you take Draco down to the vault, and I'll take Aster with me to see Garnock. We have business to see to."

"Good idea," Draco's mother agreed. "I don't want Aster in one of those carts until she has to be."

Draco reluctantly let Aster go with their father, and his mother immediately took his hand. They stepped up to a goblin, and his mother said, "I am here to withdraw from my account, I'm Narcissa Black-Malfoy."

Draco had never heard his mother hyphenate her name before, and he was curious, but before he could ask, the goblin said, "Let me see your key."

His mother handed the goblin a golden key, and soon they were led towards the back of the bank. "Now, Draco," Narcissa said. "We will be taking a cart to the vault, and it goes quite fast. Please don't make too much noise while we're in it."

Draco nodded his acquiescence. They were led to an area with several carts, most of them looking worse for wear, but the goblin lead them to a rather sturdy looking one. The ride to the vault was the most terrible experience he'd ever had, and he clung to his mother as they raced through the underground system. His mother took him into their vault, and Draco's jaw dropped at how much gold was in there. His mother saw this and chuckled.

"This is a pittance compared to what you will one day inherit, Draco," she told him. "Close your mouth, my son."

Draco did as he was told and watched as she gathered up a few bags of gold, storing them in her special purse, which Draco knew held more than it seemed. The ride back up was just as horrible, and they waited for Aster and their father in the main lobby. When they finally joined them, they headed back out into Diagon Alley.

As they passed Ollivanders, Lucius said, "Cissy dear, why don't you take Aster in to look at wands for Draco? I'll take him to Madame Malkin's then go into Flourish to get his books for him."

"Yes, love," Draco's mother said. "Come along Aster, let's go look at wands for your brother."

"Bye Draco!" Aster called, and then Draco and his father headed down the alley.

Draco was left in the care of a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve, who was given instructions to measure Draco up for some Hogwarts robes, as well as some normal ones that his mother had insisted they get. Then his father was gone, and Draco was standing on a footstool, being measured, then having the beginnings of robes pinned upon him.

A short while later, another boy was brought in, with messy hair and glasses. "Hullo," Draco said. "Hogwarts too?"

"Yes," the boy said.

"My father's next door buying my books and mother and sister are up the street looking at wands," Draco went on. "I want to go look at brooms next, but I hear they don't allow first years to have brooms at Hogwarts. That's a shame. They do at Beauxbatons, I kinda wish mother and father were sending me there instead."

The boy was looking at him strangely, but Draco ignored it, asking, "Have _you_ got your own broom?"

"No," the boy said, frustrating Draco with his one word answers, but then he asked, "What's Beauxbatons?"

"It's a school in France," Draco said.

"So there's more than just Hogwarts?" the boy asked, looking surprised.

"Of course," Draco said. "All the other wizards and witches have to learn magic _somewhere_."

The boy looked a little insulted, and Draco quickly said, "Sorry, I'm just so used to people who know this. Are you muggleborn?"

The boy shook his head. "My parents were magical," he said, "but they died, and I was raised by my Aunt and Uncle. They're muggles. I didn't know I was a wizard until yesterday."

"I suppose then you don't know what House you'll be in at school?" Draco asked, and the boy shook his head. "My mother was in Slytherin, most of her family were. But my Aunt was in Ravenclaw, and her daughter, my cousin, was in Hufflepuff. I think I have another cousin that was in Gryffindor, but my mother won't speak about him."

"Why not?" the boy asked, and Draco shrugged, then caught sight of someone's face in the window.

"I say, look at that man!"

The boy turned to see the large, ginning face, attached to two hands holding ice-cream. "That's Hagrid," he said. "He works at Hogwarts."

"Oh, is he a Professor?" Draco asked, but the boy shook his head.

"He's the gamekeeper," he said. "He brought me here to get my school things."

"Oh," Draco said, then remembered he hadn't properly introduce himself yet. "By the way, I'm Draco, Draco Malfoy. Sorry I didn't say before, my mother would be horrified I forgot my manners like that. What is your name?"

"I'm Harry," the boy said, but then was interrupted by Madame Malkin.

"That's you done, my dear," the seamstress said, and Harry stepped down from his stool.

"Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts I suppose," Draco said, and Harry nodded.

As he left though, Draco caught a glimpse of a lightning bolt scar, and with a start, realised that he'd been talking to _the_ Harry Potter.

OoOoO

Aster was jealous when Draco told her all about meeting Harry Potter in Madame Malkin's, and she moaned continuously for the next month. Then September first came around and she immediately changed to crying because he was leaving.

"You dope," he told her. "I'll be home for Christmas."

That cheered her a little.

The four of them flooed to the Leaky Cauldron, and apparated directly to King's Cross from there. Draco'd gone on side-along apparitions before, but this was Aster's first time, and she felt sick immediately afterwards. Their mother tended to her as their father helped him get his luggage aboard, then took him aside.

"Now, you know that your mother and I love you, and we're incredibly proud of you," he said, and Draco nodded. "We told you it doesn't matter which House you're in, but you know your mother is secretly hoping that you will end up in Slytherin. But you are a clever boy, you may end up in Ravenclaw."

Draco had already decided that he would prefer one of them, and let his father go on about family pride until the whistle blew and he was hustled onto the train after a prolonged hug from his mother and sister. Then the train was off, taking him away from his family for the first time.

Wandering along the train, Draco tried to find a compartment, but wasn't having much luck. Then a voice said behind him, "Hello, are you a first year too?"

Draco turned to see two boys and a girl who looked like they were starting at Hogwarts too, and he nodded. "I'm Theodore Nott," the boy who spoke said. "This is Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson. Who're you?"

"Draco Malfoy," Draco said, and Theodore cocked his head to the side.

"I don't recognise that name," he said, and narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Are you a pureblood?"

"Don't you know anything, Theo?" Blaise said, rolling his eyes. "The Malfoys are the most prominent family in France. Their line goes back all the way to the Founder's time, some say even further."

"Really?" Theo asked, looking interested. "So you _are _a pureblood then?"

Draco nodded. "My mother's family are the Blacks," he said proudly, and he could tell from the look on Theo's face that he knew _that_ name.

"That's wonderful!" the girl, Pansy, said. "The Blacks are all known for being in Slytherin."

"My Aunt Andromeda was in Ravenclaw," Draco said. "And there was a cousin in Gryffindor, but I don't know much about him."

"Sirius Black," Theo said importantly. "They say he was on the Dark Lord's side, but my dad said that if that was true, he never saw him there. Black was always fighting on the side of the Order. And Andromeda Black is a blood traitor, she married a mudblood."

"Theo!" Pansy cried. "That's not a proper word to use! Shameful!"

Theo shrugged. "It's what my dad calls them," he said proudly and unrepentantly.

"So, do you think you'll be in Slytherin?" Blaise asked, and Draco shrugged.

"I know Mother wants me to be," he said, "but Father said I'm clever enough to be in Ravenclaw. I think that they don't want me in Gryffindor, though."

"Why not?" a voice asked, and the three of them turned to see two of the same person, twins, and a boy with dreadlocks. "Gryffindor is the best house, with the only the best allowed in. I'm Fred…"

"…and I'm George," the other spoke up. "We're in Gryffindor ourselves, and we can tell you, it's…"

"…definitely better than Slytherin!"

Theo scoffed, Blaise looked uninterested and Pansy looked disgruntled. Draco had no idea how he looked, but he felt that he probably looked uninterested as well. "Doesn't matter what House you're in," the boy with dreadlocks said. "They're all noble Houses. But if you're in Slytherin, we'll have to torment you. Sorry, but it's a longstanding rivalry with the two Houses."

"Torment?" Pansy asked, her eyes wide.

"It's tradition for the first years to cop a lot of flack from older students," one of the twins said with a grin. "Sorry, but its'…"

"…a matter of House pride!" the other finished.

They then said their goodbyes and left.

"If you don't get into Slytherin, it doesn't matter," Blaise said. "We can still be friends if you'd like."

Pansy nodded her agreement and Theo said, "Not here, unless you do end up as a Ravenclaw, then _maybe_ I'll tolerate your presence."

The four of them found a compartment and filed in, talking about the classes they were looking forward to, and pretty soon a food trolley came trundling along, pushed by a witch who looked a little frazzled. "Anything from the trolley dears?"

Draco bought a ton of sweets, packing a lot of it away in a bag he was carrying that had the same extension charm on it his mother's favourite purse had. The four of them continued talking, and Draco managed to get Theo to be his friend anyway, then the door to their compartment opened, and a girl with bushy hair and buck teeth appeared.

"Has anyone here seen a toad?" she asked. "A boy named Neville's lost one."

"No," Pansy said rudely. "Go away."

The girl gave her a 'look', but she did leave. "Did you see that awful hair on her head!" Pansy scoffed. "I guess she's never heard of anything closely resembling a hair brush!"

Theo and Blaise laughed, but Draco didn't. Instead he stood and said, "I feel like stretching my legs. Who wants to come?"

In the end only Blaise went with him, and as they walked along the train, they heard whispers of how Harry Potter was on the train. "Do you think it's true?" Blaise asked.

"Most likely," Draco said. "I know he was starting this year, I met him in Diagon Alley."

Blaise's eyes widened in awe. "Really?" he asked, positively agog, and Draco nodded.

They reached the compartment that people said Harry Potter was in, and Draco pulled it open. "Harry Potter," he said, looking at the boy whom he'd met. "Hullo again."

"Hello," Harry said, then looked at Blaise.

"Oh, this is Blaise Zabini," Draco introduced.

Blaise grinned at Harry. "Hi," the dark boy said. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Harry said, then turned to Draco. "Draco Malfoy, wasn't it?" he asked, but before Draco could respond, he heard a snigger, and turned to see a redhead laughing at him.

"Think my name's funny, do you?" he sneered.

The boy looked taken aback at Draco's harsh tone. "I… uh…" he stuttered.

"That was quite rude," Blaise said. "What if we laughed at _your_ name, whatever it is?"

"Ron Weasley," the red head mumbled, looking quite embarrassed.

"Maybe I should just call you Weasel, if you're going to make fun of my name," Draco snapped.

"Ron didn't mean it," Harry said. "Didn't you?"

Ron shook his head. "Sorry," he mumbled.

Draco sighed. "Leave it be," he told Ron. "I just wanted to say hi again Harry, and I've done so. We'll leave now."

They turned to go, then, surprisingly, Ron argued, "No, don't leave. I really am sorry. You can stay if you want."

Blaise and Draco looked at one another. "I'm going back to the others," Blaise said. "Stay if you want, but you should know the Weasleys are considered blood traitors."

Draco noticed that Ron started to look angry, and said, "So's my Aunt, but it really shouldn't matter."

"Alright," Blaise said, "but I'm not telling Theo this. He'll revise his whole opinion of you otherwise."

Draco shrugged and Blaise left.

"Who's your Aunt?" Ron asked when Draco sat down.

"Andromeda Tonks," Draco said, and Ron gaped at him.

"She's really good friends with my mother!" he said. "That means her sister Narcissa must be your mother."

Draco nodded. A whistle sounded and Ron said, "We should change, we're nearly at Hogsmeade by the sounds of it."

"That girl Hermione did say we were almost there," Harry said.

"What girl?" Draco asked interestedly.

"Oh, she came with a boy looking for his toad," Harry said.

"She stopped by the compartment I was in before," Draco noted, then said, "I might get back to them, actually."

"Ok," Harry said, holding out his hand and Draco took it. "It was nice to see you again. Really."

**If you didn't like this, perhaps thinking it was boring, please feel free to never read this again, but don't flame me, I detest flamers. Constructive criticism is a completely different matter though, but remember this if you review.**

**Like I said at the start, though, there are two more chapters that are already done, that I'll post whenever, though I still need to go over them to make sure they're fine. The first three chapters all covered the first book, and chapter four will start the second book, which is definitely my least favourite, and I'm really not looking forward to it. But oh well.**

**I'd also like to point out that, even though Draco had a French upbringing, his mother made sure he and Aster understood British customs as well, and his exposure to Andromeda, Ted and Tonks (Nymphadora) has ensured that he has a certain British inflection to him.**

**So review and let me know how it was if you like, and I hope it was enjoyable.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, here's chapter two. I went over it, and hopefully I got all the mistakes, and I also added a couple of things, and took another off it. I was going to post it last night, but then I felt sick, so you get it today instead. Hope you enjoy!**

**Reminder about the OOC of Draco right here.**

**I don't own the Harry Potter franchise…**

**Chapter Two**

The first years went up to the castle that was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in boats, led by Hagrid, the giant of a man that Harry had told him was gamekeeper here at the school. Draco ended up in a boat with Pansy, Theo and Blaise, and saw that Harry and Ron were in a boat with the bushy haired girl and the toadless boy.

The ride was wonderful, and as they reached the castle, Hagrid yelled, "Heads down!" as they passed through a curtain of ivy.

The toad boy was reunited with his toad once they got out of the boats, then they were led to the doors of the castle, and Hagrid knocked three times, the door swinging open at once to reveal a tall, black haired witch in emerald green robes. The stern look on her face made Draco feel a little uneasy.

"The firs'-years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid said.

"Thank you Hagrid, I will take them from here."

She opened the doors wider and they all stepped inside, and Draco looked around in awe at how vast the entrance hall was. She led them across the flagged stone floor then into a small empty chamber off the hall. They all crowded in rather nervously, peering about them and at the witch before them.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she said. "The start of term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn you house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you're waiting."

Her eyes seemed to linger on the boy with the toad, Neville if Draco remembered correctly, then she said, "I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly."

She left, then Draco heard Harry whisper to Ron, "How exactly do they sort us into houses?"

"Some sort of test I think," was the hushed response. "Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."

Draco had the suspicion that Fred, probably one of the twins from earlier, _was_ joking, but he saw a look of panic cross Harry's face. His mother hadn't told him anything about the Sorting Ceremony, but Draco was sure that if the test was dangerous, his parents wouldn't have sent him here. They all stood there for awhile, waiting nervously, then a bunch of people screamed, including Theo, Draco noted. About twenty ghosts had just materialised through the back wall. Mother of pearl white and transparent for the most part, they glided through the room, talking amongst themselves and ignoring the surprised students. A few of them were arguing.

"Forgive and forget, that's what I say," a fat little monk said, "we ought to give him a second chance-"

"My dear Friar," a ghost wearing a ruff and tights said, "haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost- I say, what are you all doing here?"

They'd noticed them finally, but no one was answering. "New students!" the Fat Friar said, smiling. "About to be sorted, I suppose?"

Draco and a few others nodded. "Hope to see you in Hufflepuff! My old house, you know."

"Move along now," a sharp voice said, marking the return of Professor McGonagall "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

The ghosts floated away through the opposite wall. "Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall said, "and follow me."

Draco got into a line with Pansy behind him and a dark boy in front of him, but not Blaise. They walked out of the chamber, back across the hall and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall. His mother had told him all about it, but seeing it for himself took his breath away. There were thousands of lit candles floating in the air over four long tables which led up to another table where several adults, probably Professors, sat.

They were led up to where the teachers were sitting, and Draco heard a whispered, "It's bewitched to look like the outside sky, I read about it in _Hogwarts: A History_."

It sounded like that girl, Hermione, and obviously she was talking about the ceiling.

There was a ratty looking hat sitting on a stool, and it seemed the attention of the whole Hall was on it, and to Draco's amazement, it began to sing. A Sorting Hat, it called itself, and went on to list the attributes of each house. Once it was done, everyone burst into applause, including most of the first years, and it bowed to them all before becoming still.

"So we've just got to try on the hat!" he heard Ron whisper. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll!"

Draco covered a laugh at this.

Professor McGonagall stepped forward with a roll of parchment and said, "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted. Abbott, Hannah!"

A girl with blonde pigtails stumbled forward, looking embarrassed at being the first one up. She put on the hat and sat down, and a moment later, the hat yelled, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

There were cheers, then Professor McGonagall called, "Bones, Susan!"

A dark haired girl ended up in Hufflepuff as well, then "Boot, Terry!" ended up in Ravenclaw. More students were sorted, with "Brown, Lavender!" becoming the first Gryffindor and "Bulstrode, Millicent!" becoming the first Slytherin. Draco noticed Harry looked a little green, and wondered what he was worried about. Sometimes the hat took a moment to sort, sometimes the decision was instantaneous. "Granger, Hermione!" ran forward eagerly and was sorted into Gryffindor.

Neville was extremely nervous looking as well, and ran off with the hat after he was sorted, then ran back, red faced, as people laughed at him. Then finally "Malfoy, Draco!" his name was called and Draco stepped up to the hat, looking nervous. He saw Blaise give him the thumbs up and sat down, hat on his head.

"Well, well," a voice said in his mind. "Look at all the wonderful things in here. All that ambition, and thirst for knowledge. What to do with you? Slytherin or Ravenclaw?"

"I don't mind either," Draco thought.

"Is that so?" the hat asked. "Well, maybe I should put you in Slytherin, it is a Black tradition after all. But then, not all of them ended up there. Your aunt for instance… Oh, your mind is a lot like hers. So difficult…"

The hat sounded like it delighted in the fact that Draco was a challenge, and finally said, "This will decide it. Do you think you're superior because you're from a long line of purebloods?"

"Not really," Draco said. "My father's family has never cared about blood status, some of them have married halfbloods and muggleborns."

"Well, that's decided then!" the hat announced. "Slytherin houses a lot of blood prejudices, so I'll say RAVENCLAW!"

As he stepped away from the hat, he noticed Pansy and Blaise looked disappointed, but they smiled at him anyway. Theo looked sour faced, but Draco brushed it off. The boy said he wouldn't ignore him if he wasn't a Slytherin. Draco made his way to the Ravenclaw table, sitting next to Terry Boot, who eagerly introduced himself and tried to draw Draco into a conversation, but he wanted to watch the rest of the sorting.

A bunch of people were sorted, then Professor McGonagall called, "Potter, Harry!" and the Hall went silent a moment, then people stared whispering.

"_Potter_, did she say?"

"_The_ Harry Potter?"

The hat took awhile to sort Harry, but in the end it called out, "GRYFFINDOR!" and the Gryffindor students erupted into a rambunctious cheer. "That's too bad," Terry said. "It would have been quite good to have the famous Harry Potter in our house."

The sorting continued, and Ron was sorted into Gryffindor almost immediately, and when it was all over (Lisa Turpin ended up sitting on the other side of Draco) the headmaster stood, a beaming smile on his face and arms open wide.

"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

People clapped and cheered, and Draco heard Terry mutter, "What a nutter!"

The previously empty dishes in front of them were suddenly piled high with food. Roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon, and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips. The list went on. There were also several desserts already out, like Yorkshire pudding, treacle tart and mint humbugs. Draco immediately fell upon some roast chicken, absolutely starved.

A boy across from them introduced himself as Michael Corner. "I'm a halfblood," he said. "I'm really glad I got into Ravenclaw, it's the house to be in if you're serious about your studies."

"Oh, I can't wait for OWLs!" a girl named Morag McDougal said. "I wonder when we'll start revision for it…"

"Not until your fifth year," a fourth year called Penelope Clearwater said. "I've hear they're really rough, though. But NEWTs are worse."

"Who are all of the teachers?" Draco asked her, "and what do they teach?"

"Well, there's Professor Quirrell on the end," she said. "He's our new Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher, or D.A.D.A. for short. Next to him is Professor Snape, the Potions Professor. He's a right nasty piece of work, always favouring Slytherins and especially picking on Gryffindors. He's the Head of Slytherin House."

"Head?" Mandy Brocklehurst asked. "What do you mean?"

"Each house had a Professor as Head of their house," Penelope said. "Professor Snape for Slytherin, Professor Sprout for Hufflepuff, Professor McGonagall for Gryffindor, and our Head of House is Professor Flitwick, on the far end of the teacher's table. He teaches Charms."

She went on to talk about more of the Professors, and soon enough the feast was winding up. Finally, Professor Dumbledore stood once more and said, "Ahem- just a few more words now that we are fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.

"First years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well.

"I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Also, there will be Hogsmeade trips for third year students and older starting mid October.

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madame Hooch.

"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Few people laughed at that. "Is that a serious thing, you suppose?" Terry asked.

"I have no idea," Penelope said. "Usually there's a reason for something like that."

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" Dumbledore cried encouragingly.

The headmaster flicked his wand, causing golden words to appear. "Everyone pick their favourite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"

Draco rather nervously sang along, thinking how the song was rather ridiculous, and noted that several Gryffindors were going a little over the top, especially the twins he'd met who were singing to the tune of a dirge. And afterwards, Dumbledore sent them all of to their beds. Blaise and Pansy waved to him as they were led out by Slytherin prefects, and he waved back, then turned to the Ravenclaw prefects, who were eager to get to their own beds as well.

"That song was funny!" Lisa Turpin giggled to him.

"I thought it was ridiculous," Michael Corner said a little haughtily, and Draco decided that he might not get along with him.

They were led in tight circles up towards one of the castle's towers, where they reached a door. There was no handle and no keyhole, just a plain wooden door with a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle. One of the prefects reached out and knocked once. The eagle's beak opened and a soft, musical voice asked, "Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?"

"The answer is a circle has no beginning," the prefect said, and Draco realised that he was really going to like it in Ravenclaw.

"Well reasoned," the voice said, and the door swung open.

The common room was wide and circular, with arched windows that had blue and bronze silk curtains. The domed ceiling was painted with stars, and the carpet was similarly designed. There were plenty of tables and chairs, with several bookcases, and Draco noticed a marble statue of a woman, perhaps Rowena Ravenclaw herself?

"On the right is the boys dormitory," one of the prefects said, "on the left the girls. Boys aren't allowed in the girls dormitory, and vice versa. Your names will be on the door of the rooms you will sleep in for the next seven years. Now go upstairs and goodnight, classes will start after lunch tomorrow after we all receive our schedules."

Draco walked up the stairs to the dormitories, eventually finding a door with the names _Terry Boot, Michael Corner, Kevin Entwhistle, Anthony Goldstein _and_ Draco Malfoy_ engraved on a bronze plaque. He entered with Terry and Michael right behind him to find five four-poster beds hung with rich blue curtains, the beds covered in sky blue silk eiderdowns. Their trunks were already waiting for them, and Anthony Goldstein burst into the room, headed straight for his own. There was a door off to the side, and Draco peeked in to find a bathroom with separated stalls and a couple of toilet stalls as well.

"This is gonna be awesome!" Terry said, and Draco felt the same way.

OoOoO

The following day Draco woke at six, used to getting up this early at home. It would actually be about seven in the morning there. He noticed that his new roommates were still asleep, and he quickly gathered come clothes, heading in to have a shower straight away. When he was out, he noted that Kevin was awake and Anthony was starting to stir. It was twenty past six now.

"You're up early Draco," Kevin noted blearily.

Draco shrugged, rummaging amongst his stuff for his robes, which he pulled on over his head. "It's after seven at home," he said.

"That's still too early," Kevin complained, then yawned.

"Go back to sleep then," Anthony grumbled from his bed.

"Nah, I'm up now."

Draco rolled his eyes at his roommates and rummaged through his trunk, pulling out a parchment and quill. He wrote a quick note to his parents and sister, telling them what house he was in and such, then asked, "They have an owlery here don't they?"

"Yeah, but I don't know where it is," Kevin said. "Maybe an older student will help."

When Draco went down to the common room, he found a third year and asked her. "I'll take you there if you want," she said. " I have to send off a letter too. My name's Amanda Fielding."

Amanda showed him where the owlery was, then asked if he would be alright getting to the Great Hall by himself. Draco nodded, and she left after sending her letter. He chose one of the school owls, asking it to deliver to his parents in France, and the owl hooted once and flew off. When Draco made it to the Great Hall, he noted that a lot of students were already there, including Blaise, Pansy and Theo. Blaise stood up as soon as he saw him and made his way over to him.

"Hey Draco," he greeted. "How were the Ravenclaw dorms?"

"It was pretty nice actually," he said. "Hi Pansy."

Pansy waved from her seat then turned back to talk to a brunette girl. "Pansy found a soul mate in that girl," Blaise said. "Her name's Daphne Greengrass, and they apparently bonded over fashion."

Draco laughed, thinking on how his great-grandmother had been a Greengrass.

At about eight, Harry and Ron came into the hall, and Harry greeted him as they passed, much to the wide-eyed amazement of his Ravenclaw housemates. Professors had already started handing out schedules, and Draco had noticed that his house had Astronomy and History of Magic with Slytherins, Defence Against the Dark Arts and Potions with Hufflepuff, and Charms, Herbology and Transfiguration with Gryffindor. His first lesson was Potions after lunch.

Professor Snape was as nasty as Penelope had said he would be, and he was constantly breathing down their necks to make sure they weren't going to blow up his classroom. Professor Snape put them in pairs to make a simple potion for boils, and Draco and his partner, Justin Finch-Fletchley, made a perfect potion, earning a grudging nod from their Professor.

Afterwards was their first Transfiguration class, this one with the Gryffindors. "Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall told them. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

She then proceeded to change her desk into a pig and back again, but then she had them started on long and complicated notes before being given a match to turn into a needle. By the end of the class, Draco's match was sharpened, but still looked like a match. Hermione Granger had almost completely transfigured hers and the Professor showed it off to the rest of the class.

The days passed and soon Draco heard about an altercation between Theo Nott and Harry Potter, leading them to become enemies. Blaise told him how Theo had gained a couple of cronies, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, and they were becoming a menace to Gryffindors in their year. They'd already started in on Neville, and Blaise recounted how Theo had taunted Neville in their flying lessons, and how he'd stolen the boy's Remembrall and taunted Harry into the air with it. Apparently Professor McGonagall had seen Harry in the air and had taken him off somewhere, possibly for detention.

"What do you think will happen with Harry?" Draco asked, and Blaise shrugged.

"Detention maybe," he said, echoing Draco's thoughts. "But Theo's really made it a personal grudge against Potter. He challenged him to a duel, and Weasley spoke up as Potter's second."

But then it turned out that Theo hadn't shown up at all, it had been a ploy to get Harry into trouble. And then a day later it turned out that instead of getting detention, Harry had been sent a broom and given a spot on the Gryffindor quidditch team. Draco only found out because he overheard Fred or George Weasley talking about it, though it was apparently supposed to be top secret.

Pretty soon Halloween rolled around, and during Charms that day, Ron got really upset at Hermione. He was having trouble with his charm, they were working on _Wingardium Leviosa_. Draco had nearly gotten his feather to float when Ron's voice interrupted him.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron shouted, waving his arms wildly about.

"You're saying it wrong," Hermione told him. "It's Wing-_gar_-dium Levi-_o_-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."

"You do it then, if you're so clever," Ron snarled at her.

Hermione rolled her sleeves up and flicked her wand, reciting the incantation perfectly, her feather floating delicately into the air.

"Oh, well done!" Professor Flitwick clapped. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"

And that put Ron into a bad mood. After class Draco saw that Ron had said something, and with Hermione right behind him and Harry, Draco knew she'd heard what he'd said, and she pushed past them crying. At the feast that night, Draco heard that Hermione had been spotted in the girl's toilets, crying, and wondered if she was going to come down for the feast. Twenty minutes into dinner, though, the doors to the Great Hall burst open, and their Defence teacher came sprinting in, his turban askew.

He slumped against the teacher's table and gasped out, "Troll in the dungeons- thought you ought to know."

He collapsed to the floor in a dead faint.

**I thought that was the perfect place to leave it. What did you think? Do you like that Draco's in Ravenclaw? Review please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**So I've got the third chapter up for you, now I just need to get started on their second year. Reminder about Draco's OOC, and the fact that I don't own the Harry Potter Franchise.**

**Chapter Three**

The whole of the Great Hall erupted with a roar, and it took several firecrackers erupting from Professor Dumbledore's wand to get the students to settle down.

"Prefects," he ordered, "lead your houses back to the dormitories immediately!"

As orderly as they could in all the chaos, the prefects lead them back to their dorms. Once they were in their rooms, Terry said, "I wonder how a troll got in, aren't there wards against that sort of thing just happening?"

"Maybe someone let it in," Kevin suggested.

"I feel sorry for the Slytherins," Draco said. "They might have run into the troll, since it was in the dungeons."

"Who would let a troll into the ruddy castle?" Michael snapped. "And who _could_?"

Kevin just shrugged and the boys discussed theories before deciding to go to sleep. The next day, however, everyone heard about Harry, Ron and Hermione's little adventure with the troll, and Draco noticed that the three of them seemed close. Maybe facing a troll was enough to bring someone like Ron and Hermione closer like no other experience could.

Moving into November saw the temperature drop, but also, the first quidditch match was coming up; Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Draco was excited, he loved quidditch, and was fully intending to try out for the team the following year. Everyone was psyched for the match, and on the day, a lot of tensions were running high with the Slytherins and Gryffindors. People were also betting on the outcome, with Slytherin in favour two to one. But then, most people didn't know that Harry was playing on the team.

Draco hadn't spent much time talking to Harry, but an opportunity arose when he came down for breakfast on the morning of the match to find Harry alone at the Gryffindor table. He walked over to him and asked, "Can I sit here for a bit?"

Harry looked up at him and smiled. "Sure," he said.

"So are you nervous about your first game?" Draco asked in a low tone.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Harry said nervously.

"I overheard Fred or George talking about how you were on the team," Draco said. "I didn't tell anyone."

Harry sighed. "Fine," he said. "I'm so nervous, I can't eat."

"You should try to," Draco said, then saw Seamus Finnigan and Hermione coming.

"Oh, hello Draco," Hermione said, then noted Harry's empty plate. "Have you had breakfast yet Harry?"

"No."

"You've got to eat breakfast."

"I don't want anything."

"Just a bit of toast."

"I'm not hungry."

"Harry, you need your strength," Seamus said. "Seekers are always the ones who get nobbled by the other team."

"Thanks Seamus," Harry muttered.

"They're right," Draco said. "If you don't have anything to eat, you'll feel worse."

Harry glared at him and sighed. "So Draco," Hermione said, unknowingly pre-empting his leaving. "Did you get the same essay off Professor Snape?"

OoOoO

The quidditch pitch on the grounds was full of students and teachers, and Draco sat in the Ravenclaw stands, binoculars in hand. The teams were already out and being talked to by Madame Hooch, and several people around him had gasped when Harry had been spotted with the Gryffindor team.

"I thought first years weren't allowed on the quidditch teams," Michael said a little resentfully.

"It's a special case," Mandy said. "I heard Professor McGonagall was desperate not to lose to Slytherin this year. I hear Potter's very good on a broom."

A whistle blew and the game started, Lee Jordan's commentary informing them that Angelina Johnson grabbed the quaffle first. Draco watched eagerly through his binoculars as the quaffle went back and forth, both teams almost scoring until Angelina scored the first goal of the game. The game went on, both sides scoring, and both Seekers searching for the Snitch.

"Slytherin in possession," Lee Jordan was saying. "Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys and Chaser Bell speeds towards the- wait a moment- was that the Snitch?"

Draco swivelled his view to where Harry was racing the Slytherin Seeker, Terrence Higgs, and he could make out the golden glint of the Snitch. But then one of the Slytherin Beaters rammed into Harry, and all but the Slytherins cried foul. Madame Hooch seemed to have a few words to say to the Beater, and a penalty was awarded to Gryffindor, which one of the Chasers easily scored. But the Snitch had vanished.

Draco was watching the game intently, he only noticed what was happening with Harry and his broom when everyone else did. "What's going on with Potter and his broom?" Terry demanded, and Draco shrugged.

Harry seemed to be struggling to stay on his broom, it was like it was trying to buck him off. It stayed that way awhile, then Harry seemed to regain control and started speeding towards the ground. Draco's eyes widened as he realised that Harry was going to crash, and when he landed, he seemed to be choking. Then something gold fell into his hand.

"I've got the Snitch!" he shouted, waving it around.

The game was over.

OoOoO

Christmas was upon them, and one December's morning they awoke to a frozen lake and several feet of snow. Few owls were able to make it through the snow storms, and the ones that did were worse for wear. Classes were a nightmare, especially in the dungeons, where Draco could see his own breath every time he breathed.

Theo was still being quite nasty to Harry, taunting him about the fact that Harry wasn't going home for the holidays because his family didn't want him. But Harry ignored him, confiding in Draco how he was actually quite glad not to be going home. At lunch, Draco was watching as Professor Flitwick decorated the tree in the corner of the Hall when Harry, Ron and Hermione came in. He stood and went over to the Gryffindor table to join them.

"Hey," he greeted, "how're you guys doing?"

"Great," Ron said. "Are you going home for Christmas?"

Draco nodded. "Mother, father, Aster and I will be holidaying in New York," he said. "We're visiting with a cousin of father's that lives there."

"Oh, I would love to visit New York someday!" Hermione said. "I'm only going home, Harry and Ron are staying."

"Mum and dad are going to Romania," Ron said. "My brother Charlie works with dragons there."

The four of them talked a little while longer, then Draco got up and went back to the Ravenclaw table when Terry arrived. "Hey," Terry said. "What're you doing for Christmas?"

It was two weeks when the holidays started, and Draco met his Aunt Andromeda at Kings Cross. "Ted, Nymphadora and I will be staying with all of you," she told him. "Your father invited us."

"That's wonderful," Draco said sincerely.

When Aster saw him she flung herself at him and cried, "I missed you, Draco! Don't go away again!"

"I have to," he told her. "I'll still have school. But maybe I'll come home for Easter."

"Wotcher, Draco," a voice said, and Draco turned to see his cousin Dora.

She hated her name, and refused to answer to it, except when her mother used it. Family called her Dora and friends called her Tonks. "Dora!" Aster yelled, pulling herself from Draco and hugging their cousin.

"Hey there squirt!" Dora laughed, whirling Aster into the air.

They were all currently at Malfoy Manor, but would be taking a portkey to New York in the morning. So all seven of them were spending the night in France together. The surrounding area was covered in snow, but a charm was keeping the gardens warm and snow free, and they all decided to dine out on the patio.

"So Draco," his Aunt Andromeda said. "How is school?"

"It's great," Draco said. "I'm definitely learning a lot, and the quidditch season is on, so there's that too."

"Oh, are you going to try out for the team next year?" Andromeda asked. "I remember when I went to Hogwarts, I was on the Ravenclaw team, as a Chaser."

Draco nodded. "Yes," he said. "I'm hoping to get either Seeker or Chaser."

"You're in Ravenclaw too, aren't you?" Ted Tonks asked, and Draco nodded.

"A noble house," Andromeda said. "We're all proud of you."

The following day they portkeyed over to new York, and Narcissa took her son out shopping. "After all," she said, "you haven't really had a chance to get anything for your friends, have you?"

His father gave him a bag of gold, and Draco bought presents for Terry, Kevin, Anthony, Lisa, Padma, Pansy, Blaise, Harry, Ron, and even found a book called _American Wizards of the Nineteenth Century_ that he thought Hermione might like. He hoped she wouldn't mind him getting her something, even though they weren't really friends, and only talked when Harry and Ron were around. He got Harry some specialised American sweets, and a book on how to look after your broom.

As soon as they arrived back at the apartment, Draco set about wrapping the presents, his mother told him to leave them in his room, she would make sure they reached his friends in time. When he'd finished the wrapping, he heard the sound of the floo. Leaving his room, Draco was greeted by loud, obnoxious yells as he entered the living room of the apartment, and he immediately sighed. His father's cousin was here already with her loud family.

Draco didn't mind his second cousin, Julienne, but she'd married a rather loud and brazen Texan wizard, and their two year old son, who would soon be three by now, was a right terror. His father had chuckled when he'd said that to him, and said that the boy was just like Draco was when he was that age, and Draco had sulked in denial for over an hour over that.

"Draco!" Stewart Harris practically screeched when he saw him, and ran up to him, sticky hands all over his nice clean robes.

"Stewart!" Julienne chastised. "Your hands are filthy!"

Stewart just giggled, almost maniacally, but let his mother lead him off to clean his hands. "Hey there, Draco," Julienne's husband, Roy, greeted him.

"Hello Uncle Roy," Draco responded politely, and the big, burly man laughed heartily.

"Nice to see you have manners, boy," he said, "but you don't need them with me. I prefer brutal honesty."

Draco _really_ wanted to be brutally honest with him, but had a feeling that if he was, his mother might be tempted to hex him.

Over the next few days, the Malfoy and Tonks families were treated to the New York sights by the Harris family, such as the Empire State Building and other iconic New York places. Draco's mother, sister, aunt and cousins went shopping in Soho and on Fifth Avenue as well. Aster was definitely enjoying herself, and Draco had to admit he didn't mind the city either. They went to the New York version of Diagon Alley, where they had lunch at a ritzy restaurant and browsed through the shops.

On the day before Christmas, gifts for Draco from his friends arrived, and his mother placed them under the tree alongside the ones from family, and when he woke the next morning, Draco found that Aster and Stewart had beaten him downstairs. He received gifts from everyone he'd sent one to, even Hermione, who'd just sent him some sweets. He got a pair of gloves and a book from Terry, a book from Lisa, and they and everyone else got him sweets as well.

His parents got him new clothes, books and sweets, his Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted got him some quidditch paraphernalia and a pair of boots, and Dora got him a smart cloak that he knew he would be wearing when he returned to Hogwarts. Aster got him sweets, and she'd drawn a picture of them all as a family. There were many other things from his family, and Julienne and her family got him and Aster sweets.

"Sweet Merlin," his mother said, looking at all the sweets. "You'll probably go into a sugar coma from all these sweets!"

The rest of the holidays went well, and Draco was looking forward to returning to Hogwarts just after the New Year.

OoOoO

The New Year started with a bang in Times Square, but the next day the Malfoys and Tonks were back in France, and Draco flooed back to England with Dora, who took him to King's Cross to catch the Hogwarts Express back to school. "See ya, cousin," Dora said as he got on the train. "Don't forget to keep in touch."

Draco nodded, and soon found Terry on the train. Back at Hogwarts, he was thrown back into the school schedule with a vengeance, and quidditch started up again. The Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff match was causing a lot of gossip, as apparently Professor Snape was refereeing. Draco overheard Gryffindors moaning about how he was going to be biased against them, and wondered if the Professor really _would_ favour Hufflepuff just to get at the Gryffindors. In any case, he noticed how nervous Harry was over it all.

On the day of the match, however, Draco noticed that the Headmaster had come out to watch, and he felt relieved on Harry's behalf, knowing that Professor Snape wouldn't be able to be too biased with Professor Dumbledore there. And indeed, the Potions Master looked disgruntled at the sight of the headmaster. But then the game began. The game was pretty much standard, but after a moment, Draco noticed something in one of the stands. It looked like a bunch of Slytherins and Gryffindors were fighting. His attention was diverted again, however, when Harry went into a sudden dive, chasing after the Snitch.

"Wow, that was fast!" Terry commented. "That's got to be a record!"

"I feel let down somehow," Lisa said, and Su Li agreed with her.

Gryffindors stormed the grounds to congratulate Harry, and Draco saw that even Dumbledore had gone down to do so. He moved forward as well, and when he reached Harry, he said, "Merlin, that was amazing, Harry! The match lasted what, five minutes?"

Harry grinned. "Got to be a record," he said, echoing Terry's words.

OoOoO

In the weeks that followed, Draco concentrated on his school work, studying either in the library or the Ravenclaw common room. Soon, it was only ten weeks until exams, and he noted that a few extra people were studying as well. Hermione was seen even more than usual in the library, for one. The teachers were piling the homework on them, there was barely enough time for anything else, and one afternoon in the library, Draco was studying Charms when Hermione came in. He waved her over and the two of them spent the afternoon studying, joined at one point by Padma, Lisa and Kevin. Lisa and Hermione seemed to get on like a house on fire.

Easter came and went, with Draco going home for about four days, unable really to shake Aster off him, who _really _didn't want him to leave again. Back at Hogwarts, the homework and studying got even rougher, so much so that at one point, even Harry and Ron were spotted in the library studying, occasionally joining Draco, Hermione and the other Ravenclaws, other Gryffindors and some Hufflepuff's following suit. The Slytherins studied alone, though Draco saw that Blaise looked tempted to join him a couple of times.

One day when they were all studying, with Harry, Ron and Hermione engaged in hushed conversation a few tables away from where Draco sat with his friends, Hagrid came into the library, with Ron and Harry immediately going over to him. Draco ignored them, he was too busy looking up facts in an historical text, but when he looked up again they were gone. About a week later, everyone heard how Harry, Ron, Neville and _Theo_ had detention. Blaise told him Theo'd gone to the Professors to get Harry and the others caught with an illegal dragon, but the teachers hadn't believed him, and Theo had ended up in detention with the others, who'd been caught out of bed as well.

"Was there really a dragon?" Draco asked, and Blaise shrugged.

"Theo seems to think so," he said.

The detention Harry and the others served was in the Forbidden Forest, and the following day, there was talk about how a centaur had saved Harry from some vile creature in the forest. "Are they exaggerating?" Draco asked Harry at lunch.

"I only wish they were," he said.

Draco's birthday came and went with plenty of presents from his family and friends, and he was glad to finally be twelve, there weren't many who were still eleven at that point. He knew Harry's birthday was in July, and Neville's as well. At least he wasn't the youngest in their year.

Exams were upon them shortly after, and even though Draco was confident he'd done well, he still worried. He noted that people like Hermione, Lisa, Kevin, Mandy and Anthony seemed to be worrying themselves into an early grave, and he was thankful that he wasn't nearly as neurotic as the lot of them. The exams were nerve wracking, but not to the degree that lot made them out to be.

He shuddered to think what they would be like for OWLs, and then NEWTs.

After the last exam, Draco headed out to the Black Lake with Terry, Lisa and several other Ravenclaws. He saw Harry, Ron and Hermione and thought about going over to see them, but Harry had suddenly sprung to his feet, running off in the direction of Hagrid's hut, Hermione and Ron hot on his heels.

"Wonder what's got Potter's knickers in a twist?" Anthony mused.

The three Gryffindors were missing from dinner that night, and Draco was a little concerned, mostly because Ron _never_ missed a meal. But the next morning he got an answer when everyone was talking about how Harry had faced You-know-who in the castle, and that Professor Quirrell had been in league with the Dark Wizard. And Harry was, of course, in the hospital wing. Draco visited, but he was still out cold, and so he left a couple of chocolate frogs on the table that had a lot of sweets and cards for Harry already.

The following day was their last full day, and that night there was a feast. Slytherin had won the House Cup, so the Great Hall was decorated in green and silver. Harry wasn't there at first, but he eventually appeared and sat at the Gryffindor table with Ron and Hermione. People were staring at him and whispering, but he seemed determined to ignore them. Professor Dumbledore arrived soon and the whispering stopped.

"Another year gone!" the headmaster said. "And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were… you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts…"

Draco snorted at that, and Professor Dumbledore went on, "Now, as I understand it, the House Cup needs awarding and the points stand as thus: in fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points; in third place, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two points; Ravenclaw have four hundred and twenty-six and Slytherin, four hundred and seventy-two."

The Slytherins let out a massive cheer, stamping their feet and banging goblets on tables. Theo was smirking over at the Gryffindor table.

"Yes, yes, well done Slytherin," the headmaster said. "However, recent events must be taken into account."

The room fell silent at those words.

"Ahem. I have a few last minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes…

"First- to Mr Ronald Weasley, for the best played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

The Gryffindors all cheered and Draco saw that Ron looked completely embarrassed. When the ruckus died down, Professor Dumbledore went on, "Second- to Miss Hermione Granger… for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

Draco suddenly realised where this was all going, and knew that the hall would shortly be decked out in red and gold. "Third," Professor Dumbledore said, "to Mister Harry Potter, for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house sixty points."

"They're tied with Slytherin," Terry whispered, and Draco nodded.

"There are all kinds of courage," they were told. "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr Neville Longbottom."

The Gryffindor table erupted into a cheer that almost popped Draco's eardrum, and he looked over to se the Slytherins looking furious, even Blaise. If looks could kill, Theo would be hauled off to Azkaban for murdering all the Gryffindors. Professor Dumbledore then proceeded to change the decorations to red and gold, as Draco knew he would, and they all got stuck into their dinner.

The following day as they were trudging through the castle, headed towards Hogsmeade station, they were handed the results of their tests. Draco scored an O on everything except History of Magic and Herbology, getting an E for both of them. Professor Flitwick congratulated him and said that he'd scored the highest in Ravenclaw for his year, second out of all the houses. Mandy was the second in Ravenclaw.

He asked Professor Flitwick who scored the highest, and he said in his squeaky voice, "Oh, Miss Granger, of course. A shame she's not in Ravenclaw."

The train ride back was mostly uneventful, Draco spent some of it with Terry and the others, talking about what they wanted to do over the summer. Some of the time he spent with Blaise and Pansy, listening as Theo moaned and complained over the 'bloody Gryffindors'. And he also spent some time with those same 'bloody Gryffindors', talking about summer and laughing at the reactions the Slytherins had at the feast. Harry showed him a photo album Hagrid had gotten him, and he noted that his Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted were in it as well.

"They were members of the Order of the Phoenix," Harry said. "Hagrid told me they were a special group of people dedicated to fighting Voldemort."

Once they reached Kings Cross, Draco found his parents and sister waiting for him. "See you after the holidays!" Terry called loudly, and Draco returned his wave, also waving to Harry and several others.

"Come along, Draco," his mother said. "Let's go home."

**And so ends the first year. Second year will introduce a whole new slew of characters, like Ginny, Luna and Lockhart. I'm debating whether I should make Narcissa like Lockhart the way Molly did… Oh well, I'll figure it out. This chapter ended the 'already complete' ones, and now I'm faced with the task of dealing with my least favourite book.**

**In any case, please review if you liked it! ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

**And so Chamber Of Secrets begins… I had fun with Draco's summer, and a few things were planted in this chapter that will come up in chapters for the other books… Anyway, I've decided that the stuff the Malfoy family did in cannon will be taken over mostly by the Notts, but with a few others pitching in every now and then, like Parkinson Senior in this chapter. As for Dobby's role… I dunno just yet, which sucks since it starts in this book.**

**I went on Pottermore the other day and got sorted into Gryffindor. Yay!**

**The Harry Potter stuff isn't mine, and Draco is OOC in this story. Enjoy!**

**Chapter Four**

Draco kept in touch with his friends over the summer, especially Kevin, who was shaping up to be his best friend, along with Terry. Also, he tried to write to Harry, but didn't get a response. Maybe the muggles he was living with were preventing him from sending mail? He hoped so, otherwise the other boy was snubbing him, and he really didn't think Harry was like that. Lisa and Terry were also writing to him, and Morag had sent him a funny muggle postcard from Wales where she was visiting family with her muggle parents.

The Malfoy's were staying at their Italian villa near Paola for the summer, and would be there until about three weeks before Draco was due back at Hogwarts. Kevin had already invited him to visit in the weeks before they went back to school; the Entwhistle family were spending the first month of summer in Canada. Terry, Lisa, Mandy and Anthony were also going to be at the Entwhistle's after that too, and Kevin had said how they all might play some quidditch.

Staying with the Malfoy's in Italy was also Draco's Aunt Chloé and Uncle Pépin Thevenin, as well as their five daughters, Melisent, Giselle, Emmie, Sandrine and Adelle. The girls were all technically half veelas, since both their mother and father were half's as well. They all spent a lot of time in the ocean to beat back the summer heat, much to Aster's delight, and the sun blocking charm that Narcissa and Chloé applied to their children each morning lasted almost the entire day, and prevented their pale complexions turning into a burning, bright red.

His Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted had come to stay for a week. Both Aunt Andromeda and Aunt Chloé had gotten along fine, but their husbands had bonded intensely over their mutual passion, hair regrowth charms. Aster had been disappointed that Dora hadn't come along, but Andromeda told them that Dora was in the middle of some serious auror training. Three more months, and she would be a fully qualified auror, a junior one though. Aster then clapped her hands happily and declared that she wanted to be an auror too, much to their mother's disconcertion.

"Don't worry, Cissy," Lucius assured his worried wife. "It's just a phase. She'll be back to wanting to be a ballerina or a clown soon enough as usual."

And he wasn't wrong. Just a few days later, Aster decided she was going to be a unicorn when she grew up.

Draco, on the other hand, thought the idea of being an auror was something to seriously consider, but placed it at the back of his mind until he was older and actually a little closer to graduation.

In any case, their time passed happily at the villa, then on the tenth of August, Narcissa took both Draco and Aster to Rome to get a gift for Emmie, who was turning twelve in two days. Aster insisted that their mother buy a beautiful red dress for Emmie from her, and Draco used his own allowance to buy his cousin a porcelain doll to add to her already huge collection of them, as well as new wizards chess set, because Emmie had broken hers not long before she'd finished her last term at Beauxbatons. She was in the same year as he was, even if at a different school.

Before they'd left, Draco and Aster had conspired with Melisent, Giselle, Sandrine and Adelle to make sure that they didn't get the same things for her, basically.

When Emmie's birthday came around, there was a huge party, and a few of her friends from Beauxbatons had been portkeyed over for the day. One of the girls, a quarter veela like Draco, spent a lot of the time insisting that they were destined to be mates, batting her eyelashes at him. He spent most of that day trying to avoid her, much to Emmie's amusement.

"Don't mind Viviette," Emmie said, giggling. "She's just decided that she wants to be a part of my family, and since I don't have any brothers you're it, you know?"

That _really_ didn't make Draco feel any better.

A few days later, they all set to packing, then flooed back to France. The Thevenin family went straight to their home in Nantes, and the Malfoy family went straight back to theirs. The very next day, though, Draco was going to floo to the Tonks, then to the Entwhistle's, where it had ben worked out that he was going to stay until the day before going back to Hogwarts. His parents and sister would floo to Andromeda and Ted's, where they would stay the night, and then see Draco off the next day. Draco was going to go to Diagon Alley with the Entwhistle family when they went to get their Hogwarts supplies.

Gerald and Beatrice Entwhistle were good friends with Ted and Andromeda Tonks, and Andromeda had reassured her sister and her brother in law that Draco would be fine with them. Narcissa worried because she'd never met the Entwhistle's, but Draco's enthusiasm had curbed her trepidation somewhat. Aster, naturally, was immensely upset that he was leaving again.

"It won't be forever," Draco told her. "You'll see me before I go back to Hogwarts."

"But only for a little bit!" Aster sniffed. "Then you'll be gone again!"

"Just wait until you go to Beauxbatons," Draco said. "You'll love it, I bet you."

"I'll get my own wand, too," she said.

"Definitely," he told her. "Then you'll be able to learn magic. I'll be in my fourth year then."

Aster was sufficiently distracted with thoughts of Beauxbatons, and waved with a tremulous smile as Draco flooed to the Tonks home.

The Entwhistle family home stood to the southwest of the village Ottery St Catchpole, in Devon, in which muggles and wizards lived side by side, though the wizards secretly. The house was hidden from muggle view by a wood, as well as having muggle repelling charms on it too. When Draco arrived there, Terry and Lisa were already there, with Anthony and Mandy due to arrive later. Mrs Entwhistle immediately welcomed him, as Kevin's father was off working.

"It's so nice to have Kevin's friends over," Mrs Entwhistle said. "And of course, some of our neighbour's children stop by too. Young Seraphim Fawcett always used to come here to visit with Andrea."

Andrea Entwhistle was Kevin's older sister, also in Ravenclaw and starting her fifth year soon. Kevin also had a younger brother David, who wouldn't start Hogwarts until Kevin had finished.

Anthony arrived later with Mandy, rather surprisingly with Morag McDougal and Ernie MacMillan in tow. Apparently they lived near Anthony, and were coming just for the day. They all spent that day exploring the area around the Entwhistle house, finishing off with some stone throwing in the River Otter before heading back. After dinner, Morag and Ernie said goodbye and left. The room Draco ended up staying in he shared with Kevin, Terry and Anthony, and Lisa and Mandy were staying in Andrea's room. The boys were all sleeping in sleeping bags, but Lisa was getting a spare bed.

The next day over breakfast, Kevin asked, "Hey, you guys want to go to the Burrow?"

"The what?" Draco asked.

"It's where the Weasley family live," Kevin said.

"Oh," Draco said, then his eyes widened in recognition. "Oh, I think I knew that, but forgot."

Lisa giggled, Mandy snorted gracelessly, and Terry and Anthony guffawed.

An hour later as they walked, Draco asked Kevin, "Are there any other wizard families living around here other than the Weasley's, Fawcett's and yours?"

Kevin nodded. "The Diggory's live somewhere around here," he said, "and the Lovegood's live on the other side of the village. Xenophilius Lovegood owns that crazy paper, the Quibbler. There are also the Braun's, the Clements and the Blunts, and a few others as well."

When they reached the Burrow, they found Fred and George Weasley in the front garden. The Burrow was rather odd, crooked and several storeys high, with about five chimney's sticking out of it. It was a far cry from the luxury of Draco's home, or even the modern and spacious feel of the Entwhistle's, but it looked homey and well loved. A lot of gnomes were in the garden, and seemed to be the reason Fred and George were there. They were tossing them all out on their ears.

"Hey look!" one of the twins, Fred, Draco guessed, said. "Unexpected visitors!"

"Hey Mum!" George yelled. "We're being invaded by Ravenclaws!"

"Ha ha, not funny," Kevin groused, but Draco could tell he was trying not to smile, and even the others were grinning too.

It was then that a plump woman with red hair came out of the Burrow, and Draco figured this was the matriarch of the Weasley family. "Kevin!" she said. "It's lovely to see you. And you brought some friends with you."

"Hope you don't mind, Mrs Weasley," Kevin said.

"Of course not, dear," the woman said. "I think Ron and Harry will be glad to see some of their year mates."

"Harry's here?" Draco asked, and Mrs Weasley turned to look at him.

"Ahem," Kevin coughed. "This is Draco Malfoy. You know Terry and Mandy, the other two are Anthony Goldstein and Lisa Turpin."

"Malfoy?" Mrs Weasley asked enquiringly. "You would be Andromeda's nephew then?"

Draco nodded. "Yes ma'am," he confirmed.

Ron and Harry were indeed happy to see them, and immediately the seven of them began to plan a quidditch game. Fred and George joined in, and they ended up with two four man teams, with Anthony being their referee, since he didn't want to play. Draco was on a team with George, Ron and Lisa, and ended up as a Chaser with Ron, while Lisa was their Keeper and George was their Beater. The other team had Fred as Beater, Harry and Mandy as Chasers and Terry for a Keeper.

They played the morning away, both teams wining equally, but in the end, Draco's team lost overall by one game. Then it was lunch time. Mrs Weasley had already flooed Mrs Entwhistle to say that they would be staying for lunch, and afterwards, they all just lounged around and talked, while Fred and George went off to bug Percy. This was when Draco learned what had happened to cause his lack of response to his letters.

"We're going to Diagon Alley on Wednesday," Ron said, changing the subject. "Gilderoy Lockhart's gonna be there signing his new book, Mum wants to see if she can get his autograph… She's kinda got a crush on him."

"Lockhart?" Draco asked. "Isn't that the guy that most of our books for the year are by?"

"Yup," Ron said.

"We're going Wednesday too," Kevin said. "Mum's a fan of his as well."

And so they did, with Lisa, Mandy and Anthony's parents meeting them there, and Draco was to meet his Aunt Andromeda. Terry was going to tag along with Anthony and his family. However when they got there, it wasn't Andromeda Tonks who met him, but his cousin Dora.

"Wotcher Draco," she greeted. "Mum's got a St Mungo's appointment, so I'm you adult chaperone for the day, since I've got the day off from training."

After snorting at the idea of Dora being an adult, Draco asked, "Is your Mum alright?"

"She's fine, it's just a check up," Dora dismissed it. "Come on squirt, let's get going."

Their first stop was the apothecary, where Draco resupplied his potions stock, then stopped at Quality Quidditch Supplies to buy a broom, since Draco wanted to try out for the quidditch team this year. Of course, he had to get the best broom, and it happened to be the newly released Nimbus 2001. Then they stopped in Scribbulus Everchanging Inks right next door for parchment, ink and quills. After that, Dora insisted they stoped at a café for a quick bite, then they headed up towards Flourish and Blotts.

As they passed the stationery store again, they ran into Harry, Ron and Hermione. "Hey Draco," Ron greeted. "We're heading to Gambol and Japes, you wanna come with?"

"Sure," Draco agreed, then said to Harry and Hermione, "This is my cousin Dora."

"Wotcher," Dora greeted. "Call me Tonks, Dora's for family. Hey, aren't you Harry Potter?"

Harry looked embarrassed, and Dora laughed. "Alright, let's get going to the joke shop then, but no dung bombs Draco, or Auntie will hex me."

They found Fred and George in there, along with their friend Lee, and found Percy in a junk store reading a book called _Prefects Who Gained Power_. "_A study of Hogwarts Prefects and their later careers_," Ron read from the back of the book. "That sounds _fascinating_…"

"Go away," Percy snapped.

"Course, he's very ambitious, Percy, he's got it all planned out… he wants to be Minister for Magic," Ron told them in an undertone, while Draco watched Dora frown over wonky brass scales.

They explored the Alley further with Harry, Ron and Hermione, causing them to take an hour to get to Flourish and Blotts instead of straight away. Draco wanted to tag along with them, and Dora humoured him, staring at Harry every now and then, just because she knew it bugged him. His cousin was weird like that. When they got to the bookstore, however, there was quite a large crowd trying to get in, the reason proclaimed on a banner over head that read:

_GILDEROY LOCKHART_

_will be signing copies of his autobiography_

_MAGICAL ME_

_today 12.30 to 4.30 pm_

"We can actually meet him!" Hermione squealed. "I mean, he's written almost the whole booklist!"

Draco rolled his eyes at that, then noticed that most of the crowd seemed to be women about his Mum's age. A harassed looking wizard stood at the door, saying, "Calmly, please ladies… don't push, there… mind the books, now…"

They managed to squeeze inside the store, getting their books and then joining the huge queue where the other Weasleys were standing with two others that Draco deduced were Hermione's parents from the similarities she shared with the older woman. "This place is a zoo!" Dora snorted, then wandered off to look at some books, giving Draco a wink as she left.

"Oh there you are, good," said Mrs Weasley, sounding a little breathless as she patted at her hair. "And Draco too. Was that Dora Tonks I saw just then? Never mind… We'll be able to see _him_ in a minute…"

Gilderoy Lockhart came into view soon, seated at a table surrounded by pictures of himself, all of them winking and flashing dazzling white teeth. It kind of reminded Draco of his Uncle Detlef, his Aunt Gertrude's rather ostentatious German husband. The real Lockhart was wearing blue robes which some witch commented seemed to exactly match his eyes, and his pointed hat was set at an angle on his wavy blond hair.

A short, irritable man was taking a bunch of photographs with a large black camera. "Out of the way, there," he snarled at Ron. "This is for the _Daily Prophet_."

"Big deal," Ron muttered, rubbing his foot.

Lockhart seemed to hear him, though, and he looked up and saw Harry, and he stared at him a moment. Then he jumped up and declared rather loudly, "It _can't_ be Harry Potter?"

The crowd started to whisper excitedly, and Lockhart dived forward to grab Harry, knocking Draco slightly in the process, and pulled him to the front. The crowd cheered and Harry looked mortified as that photographer took so many pictures that smoke seemed to settle over the Weasley's and anyone nearby, including Draco. Once the photos were done, Lockhart threw an arm around Harry's shoulder, holding tight so Harry couldn't escape.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Lockhart called, motioning for silence. "What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time!

"When young Harry here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, he only wanted to buy my autobiography- which I shall be happy to present to him now, free of charge- he had _no idea_ that he would shortly be getting much, much more than my book, _Magical Me_. He and his school fellows will, in fact, be getting the real, magical me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that, this September, I will be taking up the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

The crowd cheered, and once Lockhart gave his books to Harry, he managed to escape finally. Draco saw him give the books to Ginny, dumping them in her cauldron. It was then that Draco saw Theo, the other boy approaching Harry. Draco frowned.

"Bet you loved all that attention, didn't you Potter?" Theo sneered. "You're such a braggart, can't go anywhere without being the center of attention."

"Leave him alone, he didn't want all that!" Ginny said, defending him.

"What's this?" Theo drawled. "Got yourself a girlfriend now?"

It was about then that Ron and Hermione managed to fight their way over. "Oh it's you," Ron said as he spotted Theo. "Bet you're surprise to see Harry here, eh?"

Theo spotted Draco then, and said, "Not really. And I'm not surprised to see _you_, Draco, cavorting with these blood traitors and mudbloods."

Draco's eyes widened that Theo would use language like that in a public place such as this, even as Hermione and Harry looked utterly confused and Ron went red, dropping his books in Ginny's cauldron and trying to get at Theo. He was interrupted though, by the appearance of Mr Weasley.

"Ron!" he said, struggling over with Fred and George. "What are you doing? It's mad in here, let's go outside."

"Well, well, well,- Arthur Weasley."

Two men approached, one of them looking enough like Theo to make Draco think it was his father, the other he wasn't sure of. Both of them had sneers identical to Theo's.

"Theodore, Winston," Mr Weasley said, nodding rather coldly.

"Busy time at the Ministry I hear," Mr Nott said. "All those raids… I do hope they're paying you overtime for your troubles."

The other one reached into Ginny's cauldron and pulled out a battered copy of _A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration_. "I guess not," he sneered, indicating the book to Mr Nott. "What's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizards if you don't get a decent pay for it?"

Mr Weasley flushed redder than Draco had ever seen anyone flush. "We have a very different idea what disgraces a wizard, Parkinson."

Parkinson? Draco quickly looked around and indeed, he saw that Pansy was in the store with a woman who was probably her mother. They were currently having their photo taken with Lockhart.

"Obviously," Mr Nott sneered, pointedly glaring over to where Hermione's parents were watching apprehensively. "The company you keep… And here I though you and your lot could sink no lower-"

Ginny's cauldron went flying as Mr Weasley launched himself at Mr Nott, amid cries of, "Get him, Dad!" from Fred and George and, "No, Arthur, no!" from Mrs Weasley. Books went flying as they fought, as a shop assistant attempted to break them up.

"Gentlemen, please- please!" he cried. "Break it up, there, gents, break it up-"

Hagrid surged towards them then, grabbing both Mr Weasley and Nott, forcing them apart. Both of them were injured, Mr Weasley had a cut lip and Mr Nott a black eye. Then Mr Parkinson thrust Ginny's book, which he'd still been holding, back to her.

"Take it," he said. "The lot of you are nothing but- never mind."

He turned and stalked off, Mr Nott following with a parting sneer. "Yeh should've ignored him, Arthur," said Hagrid. "Rotten ter the core, those two are. Bad blood is what it is, now we best get outta here."

They left then, the Granger's shaking with fright and Mrs Weasley absolutely furious with her husband. "A _fine_ example to set your children… _brawling _in public… _what_ Gilderoy Lockhart must have thought…"

"He was pleased," Fred said. "Didn't you hear him as we were leaving? He was asking that bloke from the Daily Prophet if he'd be able to work the fight into his report- said it was all publicity."

Draco sniggered at that just as Dora came out of Flourish and Blotts. "Wotcher, Arthur," she greeted. "Merlin, that was quite the tussle. Draco, you got your books?"

Draco held them up for her to see. "Alright then," she said, then turned to the Weasleys. "Gotta take Draco off to Eeylops, he's actually getting an owl for this year. See you, Arthur, Molly."

Draco followed her cousin down the Alley. "What _was_ that fight about?" she asked. "I didn't get to hear."

"Mr Parkinson and Mr Nott insulted the Weasleys, and then the Grangers, and Arthur took offense," he said. "They were really rude, and Theo called Hermione a mudblood too, in public."

"That's not surprising," Dora said. "The Nott family were always big supporters of You-know-who, preaching blood supremacy and all that tripe."

They reached Eeylops Owl Emporium, and Draco picked out a rather regal looking eagle owl before Dora lead him back to the Leaky Cauldron, where all but Lisa were waiting. "Hey Draco!" Kevin greeted. "Did you hear? There was a big fight in Flourish and Blotts! They said that three people were taken to St Mungo's!"

"I was there at the time," Draco said, "and no one got taken to St Mungo's."

Kevin looked disappointed, and five minutes later, Lisa turned up. They all flooed back to the Entwhistle's, Draco putting his owl with theirs. He was exhausted after such a long day, and couldn't wait until he could go to bed. The whole day had been exciting, and he was starting to feel it. When he got back inside, he heard Kevin and Mandy regaling the rest of them with their adventures for the day.

Later that night as he settled in to sleep, Draco wondered what sort of year they were going to have, especially with someone like Lockhart teaching there this time. Draco's first impression of the man was that he was a braggart and rather narcissistic, though everything he'd done said that his celebrity was well earned, but he didn't like him in the slightest. But what ever. Draco closed his eyes and fell asleep rather quickly.

**So what did you think? Review and let me know, I'll get working on the next chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter…**

**Chapter Five**

Students and their families were crowding the platform, and Draco, who was there with his mother and sister, as his father'd been called into an emergency meeting at work, pushed their way through. Once Draco's trunk and his new owl, whom he'd called Guarinot, were aboard, his mother hugged him and his sister clung to him tearfully, and then Draco was aboard the train.

It felt a little weird not being one of the youngest on the train, now that he was going to his second year. The first years didn't really look too different from him, at least the way he saw it. Draco wandered along the train, looking for his friends, but he came across a few Gryffindors first.

"Draco!" Hermione greeted him. "Have you seen Harry or Ron? Ginny hasn't seen them since they arrived at King's Cross."

Hermione was sitting in a compartment with Neville, Ginny, and a couple other Gryffindors, Dean and Seamus. Shaking his head, Draco said, "The only ones from our year I've seen are some Slytherins and Hufflepuffs. Do you guys know where Kevin and Terry are?"

The five in the compartment shook their heads, and as Draco was in the process of leaving, Hermione stood and said, "I'll go look for them with you. Maybe I'll find Harry and Ron along the way."

They didn't find either Harry or Ron, and Hermione was looking increasingly agitated. They did, however, find a few Slytherins, namely Blaise, Pansy, Daphne, Theo, and the latter's two goons, Crabbe and Goyle.

"Still consorting with mudbloods I see," Theo spat at him, and Draco realised that he'd lost any chance of Theo properly being his friend.

Blaise and Pansy on the other hand… "Shut up, Theo," Blaise drawled. "You're just jealous because Granger got better marks than you did."

Theo spluttered angrily, and Draco and Hermione used the slight distraction to escape. "Are you alright?" Draco asked the girl next to him when he saw her expression.

"Not really," she admitted. "Ron explained to me and Harry what the term mudblood meant after Nott called me one in Diagon Alley. It's really dreadful, you know? The way there is so much prejudice in the world. You can't really escape it, whether you're magical or muggle."

"What are muggles prejudiced against?" Draco asked curiously.

"The colour of your skin," Hermione told him. "And religion sometimes, they've even fought wars over that one."

They found Kevin, Terry, Mandy, Lisa, Su Li, Michael and Anthony in a compartment toward the rear of the train, and when asked, they said they hadn't seen the missing Gryffindor boys either. Eventually Hermione returned to her other friends, leaving Draco with his.

"I wonder what happened to Harry and Ron," Lisa mused thoughtfully. "I mean, it's not like the barrier closed up on them, only certain types of people could do that. And if they _did_ get through, then why aren't they here?"

"Maybe one of You-know-who's cohorts did something," Anthony suggested.

"But why?" Mandy asked. "There's no point, and besides, _his_ followers are all in Azkaban."

"You don't really believe that all the so called 'reformed' ones really are, do you?" Anthony asked. "A bunch of his supporters stayed out of Azkaban by pretending they were under the imperious, or forced into it. What if they lied?"

"This conversation's too depressing," Kevin announced. "Let's talk about something else."

"How about quidditch?" Draco suggested. "We're second years, we can try out for the team this year."

"I'd _love_ to be Seeker!" Terry said. "Or maybe a Beater, so I could pound a few heads!"

"Barbarian!" Mandy muttered, then they all laughed.

The trolley lady came and went, and the friends talked enthusiastically about the coming year. Draco noticed that Lisa was sitting a little closer to him than normal, but he decided to ignore that. A couple of times patrolling prefects checked in on them, and a couple of others visited them. Blaise and Pansy came to see Draco, _without_ Theo, Terry had a couple of visitors, and Hermione came back briefly with Neville and Ginny, and soon enough, the Hogwarts Express was pulling into Hogsmeade Station.

Hagrid was there once more to lead the first years off to the Black Lake for their boat ride, and the rest of them were led by prefects and the Head Boy and Girl to the outskirts of the village along a rough and muddy track, where many carriages without anyone or anything pulling them, were waiting for them. Draco knew from what his mother said that they were pulled by thestrals, but he couldn't see them. And he sincerely hoped that he never would see them, either, considering what it would mean.

"This is so exciting, wouldn't you agree?" Lisa asked him, sidling up alongside him.

"Yeah, it sure is," he agreed, resolutely studying the carriages.

There was only room for six students per carriage, and Terry, Kevin, Anthony, Lisa, Mandy and Su Li got in one. Lisa tried to get out when she realised that Draco wasn't in there, but she was blocked by Mandy, Kevin and Anthony.

"Come on, Draco," Michael said. "Let's go find another one.

They ended up in a carriage with two fifth year Hufflepuffs, a seventh year Slytherin and a fourth year Ravenclaw. The Ravenclaw wasn't someone Draco had met yet, and the Slytherin looked a little mean, so Draco tried to avoid even looking at him. The two Hufflepuffs were a couple of rather giggly girls, whose high pitched squealing set his teeth on edge.

"What is that smell?" Michael wondered. "It's a bit like an African stink beetle, only worse."

"It's the carriage," the Ravenclaw said. "And I always thought it smelled like my mother's gardens… which is _not_ a good thing, by the way, she grows Peruvian Snatch Berries."

A few people in there wrinkled their noses at that, and Draco rather thought that the carriage actually smelled a lot like dirt, and maybe straw or something. It _was_ rather unpleasant, that couldn't be denied. The carriage led them up along the main path to Hogwarts, through the open, wrought iron gates, which were usually closed, and all the way up the long path to the castle. Once they reached it, the carriages stopped and people began piling out of them and up to the great stone stairs that led up to the castle itself, through the Entrance Hall and into the Great Hall itself. Students immediately poured upon the tables, right where their Houses were.

The announcements both before and after the feast were practically the same as last year, minus the warning about the third floor, and dinner was just as spectacular as Draco remembered it to be. He noted, though, that Harry and Ron weren't at the Gryffindor table, and pretty soon, a rather elaborate rumour reached him.

"Did you hear?" asked Peter Bradley, who was a third year Ravenclaw. "Harry Potter and Ron Weasley rode a _flying car_ to the school!"

"No _way_!"

"Where on earth would they get a flying car?"

"It belongs to Mr Weasley apparently."

"They're going to get into _so_ much trouble, how stupid could they get?"

"Look, there they are in the doorway!"

"Is that Snape behind them?"

"What did I tell you? HUGE trouble!"

After the feast the students all retired to their dormitories, and Draco felt quite glad that he was back here at Hogwarts.

OoOoO

The following day at breakfast they received their new schedules, and Draco saw that the classes were paired mostly the same way as last year's, with a few differences. His first lesson was double Herbology with a mixed class, and then Defence with Hufflepuff. The fact that the first lesson was a double made him groan. Classes were starting right after breakfast, not after lunch as previously thought. Obviously the teachers wanted them to get stuck in straight away.

When the mail arrived, Draco received a package from home, containing a letter from his parents, and one from Aster. He was just about to start reading Aster's when a loud, screeching voice interrupted him.

"RONALD WEASLEY! I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU DID THAT, STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TIL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT HAD GONE…"

Draco had never personally received a howler before, but he had been in the vicinity of one a few years ago when one of his cousins had received one from his older sibling, and it had been terrible! Mrs Weasley's voice penetrated the whole of the Great Hall, and practically everyone, student and teacher alike, had turned to watch Ron's misery and embarrassment unfold.

"…LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED…"

Draco's brow rose at the mention of Harry and he noted that Harry looked quite embarrassed too. "…ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED, YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'L BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME!"

The silence after the howler was done, was rather deafening, then it was broken by several laughs before everyone went back to what they had been doing. A moment later Professor McGonagall was handing timetables out to the Gryffindors, the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs already had theirs. Once the morning was over, Draco headed down to the greenhouses with Kevin, Lisa, Su Li and Anthony, the rest of his friends already having gone down that way.

"Exciting isn't it?" Lisa asked as she walked beside him. "Being back here at Hogwarts, going to our first class of the day."

"Yeah, exciting," Draco agreed. "Herbology is extremely exciting, all those plants…"

Lisa grinned at him, then was distracted when Su Li started to talk to her. When they reached the greenhouses, they saw Professor Lockhart chatting with Professor Sprout, who didn't look too happy about it. "Greenhouse Three today, chaps!" she said without her usual cheerfulness.

There were a few whispers at that, their classes last year had only been in Greenhouse One, and they all followed Professor Sprout. Draco looked back when he heard Professor Lockhart call Harry's name, catching his eye and seeing his disappointed and put upon look before the door of the greenhouse shut behind them.

"Alright," Professor Sprout said. "Today, we will be working with a plant that needs careful handling. Underneath your tables should be some ear muffs, pull them out, please."

Draco, who was at a bench with Mandy, Kevin, Anthony and Lisa, bent to look under the table at the same time Lisa did, and their heads bumped, though not painfully. "Sorry," Lisa said with a smile, and Draco had the feeling she wasn't really sorry.

The two of them grabbed some earmuffs from the containers under the bench, handing them to the others. It was about this time that Harry walked in and went over to where Hermione and Ron were with Neville, and Professor Sprout said, "We'll be re-potting Mandrakes today. Now who can tell me the properties of Mandrake?"

As usual, Hermione's hand was in the air, straining for the teacher's attention. "Mandrake, or Mandragora, is a powerful restorative. It is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed, to their original state."

"Excellent. Ten points to Gryffindor," said Professor Sprout, and Draco saw Theo make a gagging motion with his finger, out of sight of the Professor. "The Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes. It is, however, dangerous. Who can tell me why?"

"The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it," Hermione answered after putting her hand up again, and was awarded more points.

"Now, the Mandrakes we have here are still very young," Professor Sprout said, pointing to a row of trays that everyone moved forward to see better. "Everyone take a pair of earmuffs. When I tell you to put them on, make sure your ears are _completely_ covered. When it is safe to remove them, I will give you the thumbs up. Right earmuffs on."

Draco pulled on his earmuffs, glad to note that they blocked _all_ sound. He'd never seen a Mandrake before it was chopped up and bagged, and he leaned forward a little to watch as Professor Sprout yanked one of them out by its leaves. The Mandrake was _ugly_, like a fat little baby whose parents might have been related to goblins or something. Green, root like goblins, anyway. It was screaming as loud as it could, but luckily Draco couldn't hear a thing.

Professor Sprout then proceeded to shove the Mandrake into a larger pot, burying it in compost until its ugly body was covered, then she gave them the thumbs up. Draco removed his earmuffs and he could hear again.

"As our Mandrakes are only seedlings, their cries won't kill yet," Professor Sprout told them. "However, they _will_ knock you out for several hours, and as I'm sure none of you want to miss your first day back, make sure your earmuffs are securely in place while you work. I will attract your attention when it is time to pack up. Four to a tray- there is a large supply of pots here- compost in the sacks over there- and be careful of the Venomous Tentacular, it's teething."

Mandy was ousted from their group by Lisa, and she shot her a scathing look before joining Su Li, Michael and one of the Gryffindors that Draco though was called Lilac or something, and that left Lisa, Draco, Kevin and Anthony together. Draco was more than a little discomforted by how closely Lisa was standing next to him, and he fidgeted a little before getting stuck into their task.

Professor Sprout had made it look easy, but it wasn't, not by a long shot. The mandrakes kept kicking and wriggling, and his even tried to bite him. Eventually though, he got his re-potted, before moving onto the next one. In the end though, he was one of the few who finished theirs quickly enough.

After class, it was time to head up to Potions, where Lisa once again monopolised a spot next to him. Lunch followed, and Draco managed to snag a seat between Anthony and Kevin, noting that Lisa pouted before sitting next to Mandy, who still seemed put out at having been shoved out of their group in Herbology. After lunch was Transfiguration, then Defence, which featured a rather flustered Lockhart who gave them a test that didn't have any questions on it that had anything to do with the Dark Arts, not really.

"What is Gilderoy's favourite colour?" Kevin mocked as they left the classroom. "What a waste of a lesson!"

"What are you talking about?" Su Li demanded. "It was a very informative lesson!"

"Definitely!" Mandy agreed, and the two of them giggled.

"Girls!" Kevin sighed, rolling his eyes skyward.

OoOoO

A couple of days later, the captain of the Ravenclaw quidditch team put a sign up in the common room, and an hour after he had, Draco and his friends were gathered around it.

"Quidditch trials!" Kevin cheered. "This is my chance!"

"What do you mean, your chance?" Draco asked.

"I'm gonna be the new Seeker of course!" Kevin proclaimed loudly.

"You've got to try out, first," Mandy said.

"Yeah, and I'm gonna get the spot when I do," Kevin argued.

The trials were set for the weekend, apparently the captain, a seventh year named Evan Smithy, had booked the pitch for the Sunday, and all the positions were open. Undoubtedly the people who'd played last year and hadn't graduated were going to have to prove they deserved to keep their spot, which was fair, Draco surmised. Like Kevin, he wanted the Seeker position, but would be happy as a Chaser as well.

"So are we all going to try out?" Kevin asked.

"Not me," Anthony said. "I'm not that good at quidditch."

"That's an understatement," Mandy muttered.

"I'm trying out," Draco said.

"Which spot?" Lisa asked him, and he hadn't realised that she'd gotten quite close to him, because only a moment ago, she was on the other side of the common room.

"Er… Seeker or Chaser," he told her.

"Ha!" Kevin exclaimed. "You'll be lucky to beat me to the Seeker position! You'll have to make do with being a Chaser!"

"Whatever, Kevin," Lisa said waspishly, and they all turned from the notice board and went to class.

The weekend came, and on that Sunday, Draco was down at the quidditch pitch as soon as possible. He _really _wanted a spot on the team, though he was a little disheartened by how many people had turned up to try out. One by one they all tried, some of them getting a firm 'no' before they'd even properly mounted their brooms. One of those had been Kevin, to his friend's chagrin.

Finally his chance came, and Draco managed to make it all the way up in the air. He had to dodge bludgers and be able to keep pace with the other Chasers, and he also managed to catch the snitch a few times in the Seeker part of his test, and in the end, he felt he'd managed to impress Evan. Once it was over, the captain gathered them around.

"Alright," he said, "a lot of you played really well, well done. But not everyone can play. I'm going to decide the teams tonight, and post them up on the noticeboard. Now, it's lunch, so everyone get going."

Draco re-joined his friends and they all trudged back into the castle to the Great Hall, where they immediately headed for the Ravenclaw table. Before they reached there, Harry called Draco over.

"So, I hear your quidditch trials were today," he said as he invited Draco to sit.

"Yeah, I think I did well enough, but I'll find out later," Draco said.

"They didn't tell you straight away?" Ron asked.

"Evan wants to go over everyone's performance before he decides," Draco said. "We'll probably find out tonight or tomorrow."

"Which position did you try out for?" Harry asked.

"Seeker and Chaser," Draco told them.

"Slytherin got a new Seeker," Dean Thomas said across from them. "It's Theo Nott."

"Really?" Draco asked, looking over at the Slytherin table, where he noticed that Theo looked like he was on a bragging track.

"Yeah, they came and interrupted our practice yesterday," Harry said a little bitterly. "Even though Oliver'd booked the pitch, Snape still gave them permission to use the pitch instead of us."

Theo looked up and saw that Draco was looking over there, and he sneered at him, before returning his attention to his 'adoring' fans. Turning back, Draco said, "Don't worry about them, I'm sure Professor Snape can't usurp _every_ practice you have."

**Halloween and the Death Day party are next, we'll be getting into the crux of book two.**

**Review please!**


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